


Your actions have consequences

by Bihet_trendrr



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Dek goes from little baby to angery in a matter of chapters, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Z//drs don’t interact, Zim’s a grown ass adult, Zim’s a little shit, this bitch is bout family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:02:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21604969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bihet_trendrr/pseuds/Bihet_trendrr
Summary: Dek was a good soldier— a smart soldier who knew what they were doing and how to do it right. It’s funny to think that the actions of one clumsy little irken would be enough to completely ruin their life. Can the damage be repaired, or is it too late?I’m just looking for a place to dump my story about my dumbass oc don’t fucking @ me
Relationships: Not until later though - Relationship, ZADF - Relationship, the start’s just mainly ocs
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	1. Birth

**Author's Note:**

> Baby time

Squelch!

That’s the noise the smeet makes as it’s released from its cloning tube and hits the ground. The little creature is tilted upright by a robotic arm, which holds the body still as the port that attaches the PAK to the body is implemented into the spine of the smeet. Then a surge of electricity sparks the PAK to life, and the smeet blinks its eyes open. Light little freckles dot its cheeks and the space between its eyes. The robot arm lifts the smeet to its feet, and it takes a few wobbly steps forwards.

“Welcome to life, Irken child. Report for duty.” Says a sing-song robotic voice. The arm leads the smeet to a conveyer belt, which leads the smeet to the chute that takes it to the download chamber. With a plop -and a tiny oof!- the smeet lands in the download chair.

“You are two minutes old, little smeet. Prepare to be filled with the whole of IRKEN KNOWLEDGE!!” Booms another robotic voice, deeper than the last one. The smeet sits silently in the chair, antennae rising as it searches around for the source of the voice. Then a machine lowers and connects itself to the PAK, injecting the smeet with every ounce of information and data issued to every irken. The smeet goes limp, its muscles twitching in response to the overflow of knowledge all at once. And then it’s over, and the smeet opens its eyes again with a new expression. “UPLOAD COMPLETE! You have been given a name. IDENTIFY YOURSELF.”

The smeet slides out of the chair, rising to an assertive position. “My name is Dek.”

Whatever machine they had addressed beeps in what seems to be approval, and pushes them onwards to the next room. As the door closes behind them, they can hear another smeet landing in the chair behind them. Their antennae twitch at the sound, but they force themselves to stare forwards. They can see a couple of irkens moving down the hall, not too far ahead of them. They scramble forwards, trying their best to keep up with the others. 

The door behind them opens at the same time as the door ahead of them. Dek and the other irkens ahead of them walk through the door, which ends up leading to an elevator shaft. An irken far shorter than Dek with a blocky head comes out of the door on the opposing side of the hall, spots the group in the elevator and starts running towards them as quickly as their tiny legs can go. It’s not enough, though, and the door shuts before they can get in. 

All gravity seems to disappear from under Dek as the elevator lowers itself into the depths of the planet, and they have to lean back against a wall to keep themselves from collapsing. From the looks of it, the others in the elevator are feeling similarly, twisted expressions on their faces. It couldn’t have logically taken more than at least two minutes before the elevator stopped, but in the mind of a smeet, it feels like forever. But they do land, and the door opens, and one by one the dizzy smeets exit the elevator.

That’s when they come face to face with a fully grown irken, who towered over the group significantly. She’s wearing a formal robe, dyed a deep maroon color and lined with golden fabric. Her face is scarred and slim, most likely a result of being through such vigorous training. Thick, fluttering eyelashes highlight her glistening purple eyes. Dek found themselves unable to look away from her. Is that what they’d look like once they graduated?

They don’t know how to feel about that.

But they don’t get too much time to think about it, because she’s already walking away, her gracefully long antennae flowing behind her as she moves. After some dumbfounded glances exchanged between the group, it becomes apparent that she expects them to follow her. Little feet patter across the floor in harmony as the smeets struggle to keep up with the full-grown irken, who doesn’t even stop to make sure they’re following her.

She keeps moving until she reaches a specific door, which she opens to reveal a room filled with uniforms. She moves out of the way, allowing the group to run in and find a uniform. Dek finds themselves drifting over to one in the corner, hand reaching up to touch the fabric. It’s soft. They pick it up and pull it onto their legs and wiggling it up so they can slip their arms into the holes. Almost instantly, the fabric seems to snap tight around their skin, leaving no room to breathe. They scrunch up their face. Uncomfortable.

“May I have your attention?” Says a voice that sounds like the robot that spoke to them when they were first hatched, but more brittle. Their head turns, and they look up at the tall lady. She moves into the room, her hands folded behind her back. A dozen beady eyes stare up at her. “Welcome to your very first day in training, young irkens. As you may have guessed, you are the future of our species. My suggestion to all of you? Don’t muck it up.”

She clears her throat. “Now, I’m sure tha-” 

“WAAAAAAAAAAIT!!!!!” Cries a voice from the hall, as tiny footsteps approach the room. The woman snarls, her features tightening as she snaps her head to look at the door. The tiny irken from before runs into the room, looking just about ready to pass out. “Don’t.. *gasp* start.. *gasp* without me..”

“Little one, you are late. That does not give a good impression of what you will be like in battle.” She says sharply, grabbing the tiny thing by the arm and lifting it up. The smeet shakes, cowering from her gaze. “I advise that if you want to remain on irk, you don’t let it happen again. Are we clear?”

“Y-yes’m..” It mutters, ducking its head. She releases it, and it immediately runs to pull on its own uniform. Once on, it runs over to Dek’s side and hides behind them. They don’t acknowledge it, simply keeping their eyes glued on the lady.

Wouldn’t want to cause any more disruptions, after all.

She brushes off the anger, her face returning to its intimidatingly neutral blank stare. “I’m sure that you will all do your very best to impress me. Before we begin our very first exercise, I’d like to know what name you’ve all been assigned.”

One by one, voices pipe up, giving the woman their names. Dek prepares themselves, knowing that their name will be said soon. A slightly taller irken with abnormally dark green skin and bright teal eyes complemented by a tiny grey pupil raises her antennae when it stops at her, clearing her throat and standing tall and confident. “Noggie.” She says plainly. The teacher pulls a face, but doesn’t say anything as she jots down the name. Now her cold gaze is set on Dek. They gulp.

“Dek.”

She nods approvingly, and they swallow down the hard lump stuck in the pit of their throat. Then they feel the tiny irken standing beside them squeezing their arm tight, and glance over. It looks like it’s going to pass out. A tiny, squeaky voice weakly whimpers, “Wam..”

She stares hard at them for a moment, before jotting down the name. “It seems that’s everybody. Now, my name is Och, and I will be overlooking your progress and reporting it back to your tallest, Miyuki.” A couple of voices make noises of wonder. “If you do everything I say and show promising progress, she may stop by to watch over one of your training exercises one day.”

“Now come. We have lots of work to do. Our first exercise will have to do with getting acquaintanced with the different weapons we have available, and learning how to use them in a variety of ways. If we have enough time, I may let a select few test out these techniques on training dummies. Then we will go for lunch, and afterwards we will discuss my expectations for you all. Understood?”

A dozen and one tiny heads nod in understanding. She pulls a smile, that looks so unsettling and offputting on her face. “Good. Now come along, little ones. We have lots of work to do.”

She leaves, and Dek goes to follow, but they’re stopped by the short little irken at their side, now known as Wam. Its bright blue eyes stare right up at Dek, causing them to grimace. “Could I ask something of you?” It asks.

“..If you must.” They respond hesitantly.

“Keep me safe?”

...  
“What?”


	2. Okay?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Say, why is irk like that?

“Keep me safe?”

...  
“What?” 

“Could you look out for me and keep me safe?” Wam repeats, as if the issue was that Dek didn’t understand what it said. That wasn’t the issue, obviously. ‘Keep me safe’, what a ludicrous request to make. Especially as an irken soldier-in-training.

“I’m sorry, but what? What kind of question is that? I’m not a babysitter. I’m not your guardian. You have no right to ask something so absurd from me.” Dek furrows their brow, staring firmly at Wam. The smaller irken seems to somehow shrink. “Have you somehow forgotten what we are? Irkens don’t offer protection to one another! It boggles my mind how you could be so dense to this!”

Wam fidgets, staring down at the floor. “I know, I know. But I.. I’m not fit for this. It’s pretty clear. I’m not built for battle. They’ll tear me to shreds!”

Dek quirks their head to the side, a brow raising. “Again, why should I help you? Why is it my duty to make up for the areas where you’re lacking?”

“You were the closest person, I.. I just panicked and happened to ask you. Please. I don’t want to get hurt.”

An eye roll. This is idiotic. But then they look in the little irken’s eyes and the desperation starts to get to them. Ugh. This has got to be the worst decision they’ll ever make. “Fine. I’ll ‘protect you’, or whatever.” Wam’s eyes light up, and Dek’s quick to add, “On one condition. You don’t let anyone know that I agreed to this. Got it?”

“Oh! Thank you so so much!” Wam beams, flinging it’s arms around Dek’s midsection. Dek’s quick to shove it off.

“Don’t touch me. And don’t mention it. Seriously, don’t.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One very rough training session later, Och directs the little smeets to the ‘designated dining area’, as she called it. The tall one with the dark olive skin- Noggie, as she’s now known as -called it ‘a bootleg version of foodcourtia’. Wam snickered at that, and Dek has to admit that they cracked a smile at the shot. The three of them ended up grouped together at the same table. For a while, they all sit there, eating in silence.

It’s painful.

Might as well break the ice.

After all, what is there to lose? 

Dek clears their throat, causing the two other heads to turn to look at them. Ah, shit. “What a training exercise that was. Very thrilling.” Noggie rolls her eyes.

“Sure, sure. I guess it was alright. I wouldn’t trust a bunch of newborn smeets to handle weapons myself, though. Especially not firearms.”

“We gotta learn how to handle them eventually. Better sooner than later, right?” They prod at the goop on their plate, an eyebrow raising.

“But why immediately after hatching from the tube? It seems impractical.”

“Why not? Best to get it ingrained in their heads while they’re still young and impressionable.”

Noggie’s expression goes serious. “It doesn’t feel okay. Not just the weaponry being handed to us. The whole ‘training smeets to be merciless killing machines’ thing feels.. like it’s doing more harm than good.”

Dek scoffs, stabbing into the goop. “That’s nonsensical, Noggie. We’ve practiced this for years and our numbers have increased significantly. I don’t understand how it could be causing harm.”

“You don’t understand how eradicating life on the planets of other creatures causes h-” She’s cut off by a hand grabbing her shoulder. She looks up to see Och, staring hard at her. Noggie flinches under the gaze, shrinking a little.

“Do not meddle in matters that do not concern you.” She states, squeezing her shoulder hard before releasing it, walking away. Noggie lowers her head. Wam clings to Dek’s side, which doesn’t get a response from the bigger irken, who keeps their gaze locked on Och as she disappears from their sight.

The rest of lunch is spent eating in silence. Afterwards, the topic is never discussed again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ow ouch


	3. Fuck.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You messed up.

The days following all seemed to meld together, consisting of a very particular series of events. Their group would leave the charging stations, Och would instruct them, Noggie would stumble into succession, Dek would do their very best, Wam would mess up some way or another, Och would yell at Wam, Wam would hide behind Dek, break for lunch, then repeat. 

For a good long time, Dek would push Wam away as soon as they latched onto their leg. But frankly, after three years of the nonsense, Dek has gotten fairly used to the clinginess of the shorter irken. Interestingly enough, they developed the habit of patting Wam on the head in response.

Noggie used to tease the two of them for the routine, comparing their nature to each other to that of vortians. It often led to Dek and Noggie getting in trouble for tussling in the hallway. But lately, she seemed to get.. quiet. They’d be a liar if they said they weren’t at least a little bit worried about her.

Och brought them back to reality with a clearing of her throat. They stop in front of her, looking up to see a ginormous room with a series of metallic walls that slide and click into place. Their eyes widen a little.

“Today, your exercise will consist of running through this ever-changing maze and avoiding drones programmed to shoot at any moving object they detect. The ultimate goal of this exercise is to train your stealth skills. It will last for exactly six hours. If you’re lucky, you will find the exit before the six hours ends. You may head in now.” Och steps to the side while they all scramble in. Wam trips over its feet, earning a glare from the older. It squeaks, running over to Dek’s side. They sigh, patting its head.

A loud horn blares through the room, declaring the beginning of the six hours. Dek starts to wander off, pressing up against the walls, but get stopped by a hand still gripping onto the hem of their uniform.

“Wait- you aren’t leaving without me, are you?” Squeaks out Wam. Dek just stares at it blankly.

“No offense, Wam, but you aren’t exactly the most careful of soldiers. I’d like to make it through this exercise unscathed.” They respond plainly. Wam looks hurt by the statement.

“But I need you-”

“Rely on yourself. I’m not going to be able to get you out of every mess you catch yourself in. I’m not your crutch.”

Wam shrinks, but says nothing more. Wanting nothing to do with the situation, Dek presses back up against the wall and slinks away. A wall closes behind them, affirming their decision. They inhale sharply. No turning back now.

They press onwards, coming to a corner. The noise of whirring slowly comes closer to them. They squeeze their form up against the wall, holding their breath as the drone flew past them. Once it was far enough, they dart off, weaving around the walls. In the distance, they hear the sound of one of the drones firing. Ah, well. They move on, staying as still as they can as they weave their way through the labyrinth. 

Occasionally, they’d bump into another irken, and they’d temporarily help each other before parting ways again. Many times, they’d hear someone being shot, followed by a scream. About 51 times so fa-

…

Make that 52. No doubt at least one of those times was Wam, the clumsy bugger. Sighing, they don’t let themselves think too hard on it, and keep walking onwards. A drone they don’t notice starts closing in on them. Just as it’s about to fire, a heavy body slams into them and pushes them up against the wall.

“What are y-” They go quiet, looking up at the figure. Two cold, familiar eyes peer back down. Noggie.

“You were gonna get shot. I pushed you out of the way. You’re welcome.” She looks around. “Where’s Wam? I haven’t come across it yet, and I assumed it was with you.”

Ah, fuck.

“I, ah..” 

It was then that Dek realized: They fucked up.

“I may have abandoned Wam early on..”

The taller’s antennae flatten against her skull. Oh no, that’s bad. That’s really bad. She grabs them, face a mixture of rage, and.. Worry?

“You abandoned Wam?! What the hell is wrong with you?”

“It isn’t a smeet, and I’m not its caretaker!”

“Oh my Irk-- I’m gonna have to go find it.” She sighs, releasing them and running off. They stumble backwards, rubbing their head. Well, that sucked. No time to fret on it, though. They have shit to do.

Off they go, continuing to weave through the maze until something in the distance catches their eye. 

Could it be? The exit to the maze?

They lurk onwards, being careful to avoid any droids that passed by until they finally reached their goal. On the other side lies a recharging station occupied by two other irkens, along with a number of medical beds occupied by their groupmates, most who were shot at least once or twice. Wam, noticeably, was not amongst the group. Noggie wasn’t anywhere in sight, either.

Huh.

They sit down on a bench by the charging station, kicking their legs and glancing up at the clock.

3 hours left to spare. They almost feel proud of themselves.

Time continues to pass, and slowly the others make their way to the other side of the maze. Noggie was one of the last. She’s carrying something on her back.

They get a sneaking suspicion they know exactly what it is.

Och, seeming to have appeared out of thin air, clears her throat. A hundred beady eyes stare up at her.

“I would like to congratulate the following parties for completing their tasks ahead of time..” They start to tune her out. It’s not too important. Their head snaps up when they hear their name. “Dek!”

They blink, wide eyed.

“Yes?”

A slight smile tugs at the corner of her mouth. “You surprised me today. Good job.”

“Uh, thank you, ma’am.”

“As for the rest of you, you all disappoint me. Especially those of you who still haven’t recovered from being shot.”

Her eyes lock on Noggie, who freezes under her gaze. “Noggie. Come here.”

Every step she takes towards Och causes a shiver to run up their spine. Their blood runs cold when they catch sight of Wam’s mangled form loosely clinging to her back.

“Put Wam on the ground for me.”

Shaking, she just nods and puts it down. Wam stands on shaky legs, staring at Och with dread.

“Wam, you have been nothing but a disappointment from day one. You’re short, you’re weak, you’re pathetic. You have absolutely nothing that you can offer the armada.”

The doors suddenly open, and a pair of guards enter the room. Wam takes a step back.

“What’re you..”

“With the tallest’s permission, I have been given the right to do with you as I please. Do not fight back, it will only hurt more if you do.”

Two hands grab onto each of it’s arms, dragging it away. Wam desperately tries to dig it’s heels into the floor, crying out for help. Noggie’s trembling, very visibly holding herself back as Wam is removed from the room.

The door slams.

It’s over now.

“You are dismissed.” Och bows her head, and leaves. Dek waits until the crowd disperses a little before rushing over to Noggie’s side, grabbing her arm. She pulls away from them, glaring.

“Don’t touch me.” She hisses, walking away. They’re left standing there, blinking.

Shit.


End file.
